Novi Detroit Catholic Central High School students Mark Didonato and Keaton Mulcahy were glad to be at the FIRST in Michigan District Event last Saturday, competing among 40 high school robotics teams.

“We’re doing very well,” said Didonato, 17, a CC senior who lives in Ann Arbor. The event ran March 24-26 at Livonia Churchill High School; late morning Saturday, Catholic Central was eighth of the 40 teams.

“We have a certain amount of ranking points. We still have a couple competitions left,” said Didonato, who plans to study electrical engineering at Kettering University and pursue a General Motors internship.

The CC team has about 22 students, and its members worked to get the FIRST program in school with sponsors and school support. “At first, there was a lot of math involved,” Didonato said. “You got a lot of experience in the field.”

He noted it helps with engineering study and college scholarships. Added freshman Mulcahy, a Canton resident, “I like the experience and I like how everyone works together. It’s like a giant community.”

Mulcahy is mulling Michigan State University for engineering, and of robotics noted, “I love the hands-on.” The CC team is the Shambots.

FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. For more information, visit www.firstinmichigan.org.

“I would say it’s a lot more friendly than I thought it would be,” Didonato said of the Churchill-based competition. “Even on the opposing team they would help us out.”

Nearby were the Hackbots of the Farmington Public Schools, from Harrison, North Farmington and Farmington High Schools. Mark Skodack, a Wixom resident, and their teacher and coach, and is on the staff at Farmington High.

The Hackbots have about 70 students, Skodack said, and are in their fourth year as a unified team. “This is our fourth robot,” he said.

The FPS team has been to Worlds competition in St. Louis, Mo., four years ago and is striving to return. “It was a good experience,” Skodack said. “It’s a lot of connecting the dots with their core classes. They’re in there, they’re problem-solving. They’re owning it. Our kids this year are taking an outstanding initiative.”

The FPS team now has some college students in engineering, FPS grads who assist. Skodack noted multiple teams from pneumatics to safety.

“It’s almost like a small business,” he said. “A business has to market, a business has to be safe. Six weeks to build a robot is tight for these kids. It gets their focus razor sharp.”

Avery Cosier, 17, is a junior at Farmington High and a Hackbot. This is her second year on the team.

“There are so many different subgroups,” Cosier said. “You get to be really creative and apply things you’ve learned.” Her plans are biochemistry study in college for a dentistry career.

Cosier is the team brand manager, including marketing, imagery, graphics and the business plan.

In competition, remote-controlled robots, piloted by students and cheered on by fans, go head-to-head in short games on the floor of a sports arena, battling it out to earn points during a round.

Isolina Carlini is the team leader and coach for Livonia Public Schools, whose Warrior team includes Stevenson, Churchill and Franklin High Schools. The Warriors have 52 kids and 31 mentors, said Livonia resident Carlini.

This is the sixth tournament they’ve hosted at Churchill, she added. “It has a perfect layout for the competition,” she said, noting some 2,000-2,500 people attend, including students, volunteers and spectators.

“Everyone here is trying” to get to Worlds in St. Louis, Carlini said. “We are bantering for the position.”

She teaches English at Holmes Middle School in Livonia, and noted the three district middle schools feed into high school-level LPS robotics. “I think it gives them a hands-on experience that simply is not possible in the classroom,” Carlini said. “It positions kids for success and scholarships and internships. Kids that like this kind of stuff, it really appeals to them.”

Among enthused students is Joshua Johnson, 16, a Wayne Memorial High School junior on the Bionic Zebras team. “I actually think it’s really good,” Johnson said, adding of the FIRST event compared to other competitions, “I would say so far it’s the best. I like the theme of it, the medieval theme.”

This year’s theme included use of a catapult arm to throw a ball through a target. The Bionic Zebras are mainly Wayne Memorial in the Wayne-Westland district plus a John Glenn High student. Johnson’s at the William D. Ford Career Technical Center for welding.

He was working at Churchill with Trevor Davis of Garden City, a mentor who works at the Suburban of Garden City car dealership as a lube technician. Davis graduated from Wayne Memorial in 2007.

“Getting to teach the students about electrical and networking,” Davis said of what he likes. “To teach students about networking and programming, it’s fun.” This is his seventh year as a mentor, with the Bionic Zebras having 21 students.

“We tend to help out a lot of the new teams,” said Johnson, who has found new friends through robotics. He’s his team’s safety captain.

The volunteer mentors, often engineers, are key to team success. Andy Monique of Farmington is an engineer at FANUC with a son, Jay, 16, a sophomore at Farmington High, on the Hackbots team. “He just likes the whole program,” said Monique. “I think it’s very good for the kids and their future.”

Monique is an electrical/software engineer. “There’s a lot of opportunity out there in the engineering field,” agreed Monique, in his first year as a mentor.

“There’s a big presence from Bosch,” he said. “A lot of people contribute.”

AISIN Group was the title sponsor for the FIRST in Michigan District Event at Churchill.